Double Political
by tinylexie
Summary: He was the spokesperson. She was the secret weapon. They played two different roles, but they were both politicians. They weren't exactly double trouble, but they were double political.


It was acknowledged by many (even by those whom hated the blond aristocratic wizard and would have liked to see nothing more than to see him receive the Dementor's Kiss) that Lucius Malfoy was a political genius. His voice, while often cold and arrogant, was also smooth and polished. And with that voice, Lucius Malfoy could talk himself out of almost any situation. Only Lucius Malfoy had the ability to appear both condescending and innocent at the same time.

And his voice was not the only thing that Lucius Malfoy had going for him. He also had a strategic mind, always thinking several steps ahead of everyone else. He knew which wizards and witches to make connections with. And he could read people very well. He knew what to say to make people follow his lead, to make people _want_ to follow his lead. Sometimes he used threats. Sometimes he just made a proposal that spoke of benefits for the other person, and that person would be unable to see how that same proposal benefited Lucius Malfoy even more.

Lucius Malfoy valued subtlety. Sometimes he was more bold and brazen than other times, but more often than not Lucius Malfoy was obtaining his goals through subtle means. He had been accused of doing many horrible things, but _no one_ knew even a quarter of the horrible things that he had really done. Lucius Malfoy appeared to be often the center of attention, but that masked the fact that he was actually operating behind the scenes more often than he was parading in front of a crowd.

Lucius Malfoy was, in many ways, a political genius.

But what most people didn't realize was that Lucius Malfoy's wife, Narcissa Malfoy (formerly Narcissa Black), was a political genius as well.

People didn't really notice Narcissa Malfoy. Most just saw her as another pureblood wife. She believed in blood purity, but she wasn't really regarded as an actual person. She merely existed to give Lucius Malfoy an heir, so that the Malfoy line could continue and so that future Malfoys could continue to believe in blood purity.

Lucius Malfoy often wondered if the whole world (and not just Mudbloods) was severely defected.

It was so obvious to Lucius Malfoy that Narcissa Malfoy was more than just the vessel to carry his pureblood heir and to continue his pureblood family line.

Lucius Malfoy considered himself very fortunate that of all the Black sisters he could have ended up being arranged to marry, he had been arranged to marry the one Black sister that had a brain.

As far as Lucius Malfoy was concerned, Narcissa Malfoy was the only one of her sisters who appreciated the art of being subtle and the art of thinking ahead. Narcissa Malfoy rarely acted before thinking ahead of all the possible consequences that could possibly result from her actions.

Narcissa Malfoy generally had a quieter personality than her more dynamic husband; but if anyone would have actually taken the time to get to really know Narcissa, they would have seen the fire burning inside her. They would have seen that her cold, icy exterior was just an illusion.

In reality, Narcissa Malfoy was an extremely passionate woman capable of feeling extremely strong emotions.

Narcissa Malfoy believed in blood purity just as strongly as her husband. Her personality just happened to be quieter.

Lucius Malfoy was the spokesperson for the Malfoy couple, and Narcissa Malfoy had no problem with that because she knew that her opinions mattered to her husband.

Not everything that came out of Lucius Malfoy's mouth was his words. Many of the words that he spoke were actually Narcissa Malfoy's words.

Not that Lucius Malfoy was secretly a pushover or Narcissa Malfoy secretly a domineering wife who kept her husband perfectly controlled under her thumb like a well-trained puppy.

Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy refused to see the other as anything but their equal.

Except when it came to the political realm.

Narcissa Malfoy was not as outspoken as her husband, so she always claimed that she hated politics and that her dear Lucius was the politician of the family.

Lucius Malfoy would always snort in a dignified fashion. He knew that his beloved Narcissa was just as much of a politician as he was.

Narcissa Malfoy was just a different type of politician than Lucius Malfoy was.

Narcissa Malfoy just showed her political genius in a different way than Lucius Malfoy did.

It was widely known the role that Narcissa Malfoy had played in the Second Wizarding War, but most people didn't know anything about what type of role (if any) she had played in the First Wizarding War.

Narcissa Malfoy had never been involved in any battles or raids. Narcissa Malfoy had not been involved in any of the Death Eater meetings.

Lucius Malfoy had wanted to keep his wife as far away from the war as possible. It wasn't because he doubted her abilities. Quite the contrary, Lucius Malfoy often praised his wife for being quick and resourceful with her wand. Lucius Malfoy had no doubt whatsoever that his wife could hold her own in a duel.

Lucius Malfoy was an extremely proud wizard, but he had quickly learned that all it took for a Death Eater to fall was for that Death Eater to have a little bit of bad luck while facing an Auror who was having a little bit of good luck.

Lucius Malfoy understood the realities of war, and he understood that it was possible for a little bit of bad luck to affect even a witch as capable as his wife.

Lucius Malfoy understood the realities of war, and he knew there was a chance that he could fall.

And Lucius Malfoy didn't want his wife to fall with him.

Lucius Malfoy, therefore, tried his best to keep his wife from all the big details.

Despite all this, however, Narcissa Malfoy had not been completely innocent during the First Wizarding War.

Since Narcissa Malfoy was often ignored and often not appreciated, she heard many things.

As mentioned before, both Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were good at being subtle, both were good at hiding in plain sight.

And Narcissa Malfoy loved eavesdropping nearly as much as her husband did. Like her husband, she didn't like not knowing things.

Unless those things she didn't know kept her safe, as she didn't want her husband worrying about her well-being. It was enough that he had to worry about keeping himself safe. He didn't need to be worrying about her as well.

But when it came to information that Narcissa Malfoy could safely know about, she just had to know that information; and she wouldn't give up until she had that information in her possession.

Narcissa Malfoy passed along to her husband a lot of valuable information.

Lucius Malfoy never told the Dark Lord where he had received some of his information.

Not because Lucius Malfoy didn't respect his wife and not because Lucius Malfoy didn't want his wife to get the respect that she deserved.

It was because Lucius Malfoy wanted to keep his wife safe.

Lucius Malfoy was loyal to blood purity and to keeping the pureblood culture alive.

But Lucius Malfoy was not truly loyal to the Dark Lord.

For Lucius Malfoy, the Dark Lord was just a means to an end. Just like Lucius Malfoy knew that he was just a means to an end for the Dark Lord. They were both using each other, and Lucius Malfoy had no problem with that.

Just as long as Lucius Malfoy was benefiting from his alliance with the Dark Lord.

But since Lucius Malfoy knew that he didn't really matter to the Dark Lord, he didn't want his wife to fall under the Dark Lord's attention.

Lucius Malfoy knew that he was expendable, and he didn't want his wife to become expendable as well.

If the Dark Lord didn't acknowledge Narcissa Malfoy, then he couldn't ever notice her long enough to take his anger out on her.

Lucius Malfoy knew that his wife was strong, he also knew that she wasn't used to being tortured.

And the thought of Narcissa Malfoy being tortured pained Lucius Malfoy even more than the thought of himself being tortured.

So Narcissa Malfoy had always remained Lucius Malfoy's secret weapon.

And Narcissa Malfoy had no problem with that. She preferred to be quieter than her husband, and (as mentioned before) she didn't want her husband having to worry about her along with himself.

Everything changed during the Second Wizarding War.

Everything went wrong during the Second Wizarding War.

Narcissa Malfoy knew that her husband would have felt better if she was as far away from the Dark Lord as possible, but Narcissa Malfoy also knew that her husband needed her by his side.

Not that Narcissa Malfoy thought that her husband was weak. Narcissa Malfoy respected her husband too much to ever think that.

But Narcissa Malfoy knew about all the suffering that her husband had been forced to endure throughout his entire life, and she thought that it was about time that someone showed Lucius Malfoy the compassion that he had always been refused.

Lucius Malfoy, after all, had always soon Narcissa Malfoy the compassion she had never received from anyone else.

It was time to return the favor.

But Narcissa Malfoy would be subtle about it.

Narcissa Malfoy would still be Lucius Malfoy's secret weapon, but she would be a different type of secret weapon than she had been in the past.

And Lucius Malfoy would still be the spokesperson, but he would be a different type of spokesperson than he had been in the past.

"The Dark Lord plans to attack Hogwarts soon," Lucius told his wife one night as they were preparing for bed.

Lucius, of course, had checked several times to make sure they were truly alone before he had shared this piece of news with his wife.

Lucius didn't want anyone knowing about any of the plans that he was making with his wife.

"We have to be there," Narcissa replied to her husband's statement. "We have to protect Draco."

Lucius nodded his head in agreement before saying, "The Dark Lord will return in the morning. I will speak to him then."

"No, Lucius," Narcissa said quickly, trying and failing to keep the panic out of her voice. "The Dark Lord hurts you enough for no reason. Don't draw attention to yourself. Don't give him any more reasons to hurt you some more. Let _me_ speak to the Dark Lord. I mean _nothing_ to him."

"No, Narcissa," Lucius replied sharply, also trying and failing to keep the panic out of his voice. "You and Draco have both already suffered enough for _my_ mistakes. I won't allow you two to suffer any more because of _me_. I will speak to the Dark Lord."

Narcissa looked as if she was about to argue.

"Please, Narcissa," Lucius pleaded. "I _need _to do this. I need to retain my role. Just like you need to retain your role. Playing our roles in the past has always worked for us. Playing our roles now is the only thing that will work for us now. Please, Narcissa."

Narcissa looked at her husband for the longest of moments, tears starting to form in her eyes, before finally nodding her head in agreement.

"You the spokesperson," Narcissa said. "I the secret weapon. They won't know what hit them."

Lucius allowed himself to smile for the first time in what seemed like forever. "I know you hate politics, Narcissa, but we do make a wonderful political team. We just happen to play two different political roles."

"And we have always played those two different roles well," Narcissa smiled back. "Let the Dark Lord think that we are defeated and broken. Let the Dark Lord think that we would never _dare_ try to defy him. All that matters to both of us now is Draco. Just please promise me, Lucius, that you won't test the Dark Lord's patience any more than necessary. Because I happen to be a very selfish woman that intends to survive this war with _both_ of her men at her side."

Lucius nodded his head at his wife; but he knew that to get the Dark Lord to follow his lead so that he could successfully play his role, he would probably have to be at least a little brazen. He would speak his words to the Dark Lord as carefully as possible, but his words themselves might not necessarily be careful.

Not that Lucius would tell his wife any of this. She was already worried enough as it was. She really didn't need to be worrying any more.

Besides, they both needed to concentrate on playing their two different political roles to absolute perfection.


End file.
